I’m not in a writing mood this morning, but I’d be remiss not to mention our weekend adventures in Waco. [Kathy->] and I went up Saturday afternoon for the Baylor All-University Sing, a 19 act song & dance extravaganza that the school puts on every year. Jason and Barry are heavily involved in a variety of roles: orchestrating, playing in the pit, directing, prop-building, and more, so we figured that it was our duty as friends to get up there to see the thing. It was a super time: there were great acts, Jason gave us a backstage tour, the music was spectacularly well done, and we were in the company of some good folks.

After the show finished up, we retired to Taco Cabana for a little bit of late night dinner. Barry and I had both grabbed great hunks of dry ice that had been thrown out after the show, so we merrily played with them on the table, creating great clouds of smoke, freezing Dr. Pepper and salsa into little munchable chips, and generally having a grand ol’ time until the Taco Cabana lady came over and said that the police at a nearby table said that we’d need to stop or they’d have to ask us to leave. (I think she was fibbing: if the Police had a problem with it, I’m sure they’d have let us know directly.)

Anyway, by that time, the roads were iced over and I-35 was laced with wrecks, so we decided to stay overnight. Christina and Steven, who were keeping the kids, graciously agreed to keep them wrangled for a bit longer with help from Lori. After enjoying Barry’s conversation, Italian soda, and chocolate for a bit longer, we crashed in another friends house, though he didn’t know it, since he was elsewhere that night. (Thanks, Joe!)

Come morning, I was getting restless, so took a long walk around the Baylor campus, which I’d never had occasion to explore before. It’s a really nice place, with a delightfully civilized collection of porch swings, fountains, walks along water, and huge live oak scattered about. The architecture is a motley assortment, ranging from marble-and-stained-glass shrines to learning to ultra-utilitarian brick cubes. (Ironically, the Fine Arts building was one of the most architecturally spare places I saw.)

Come noon, we started south, stopping only in Temple to eat at what instantly became my new favorite Taqueria. Not only did they have nopalito (cactus) tacos on the menu (which were quite delicious), but they also bring chips, two kinds of salsa (fresh and cooked) and queso to the table when you sit down. The food was outstanding and the prices reasonable.